


Married Life

by Belphegor



Category: The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Series
Genre: Backrubs, F/M, Fluff, based on a tumblr prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:22:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23768413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belphegor/pseuds/Belphegor
Summary: Rick didn’t mind being out in the desert again, not if it meant being by Evy’s side. He had know, before he married her, that life with Evelyn Carnahan wouldn’t mean hanging aimlessly round the streets of Cairo every day waiting for his wife to finish sorting out and cataloguing the library of the Museum of Antiquities. A snapshot of two newly-weds at the end of a working day, featuring a tent, shoulder rubs, and a little insecurity or two.
Relationships: Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell
Comments: 18
Kudos: 46





	Married Life

“I am,” Evy announced as she made her way into the tent that Rick shared with her, “absolutely exhausted.”

“Long day, huh?”

It had been a long day for him too, made all the longer by the hours he’d had to spend on the outskirts of the camp to keep an eye on the south entrance of the necropolis. Rumours among the workers said Bedouin shepherds had fallen victim to raiders recently in the area – raiders who might take interest in their dig site, especially if there was money to be made from selling valuable objects, or people.

Not that Rick resented his mostly self-appointed role as head of security. It was good, honest work, and it gave him something to do besides watching Evy conscientiously brush the dirt of ages off the hieroglyphs on the walls.

At least they’d had an actual honeymoon. Evy had been all set to spend it digging up Thebes before Rick had put his foot down and demanded they took a week to enjoy themselves properly, which meant no work, no Jonathan, and not spending days and days on end without the most basic of facilities. Or living on dates, beef jerky, and tepid water.

They had their whole lives for that, after all.

Rick didn’t mind being out in the desert again, not if it meant being by Evy’s side. He had know, before he married her, that life with Evelyn Carnahan wouldn’t mean hanging aimlessly round the streets of Cairo every day waiting for his wife to finish sorting out and cataloguing the library of the Museum of Antiquities.

He put away the little notebook in which he’d been scribbling a rudimentary map of the necropolis and watched Evy peel off layers of light clothing one by one and carelessly deposit them on a nearby folding chair. For all that she liked to tell off her brother for being a slob, she was hardly any better. It was kind of hilarious, really.

Once she was down to the clothes she deemed necessary for a cold desert night she dropped by his side and let her head fall on his shoulder. Rick just had to lean down a little to lay his own head against hers and smell the desert in her hair. Which he did, still marvelling at the fact that he _could_.

“I missed you today,” she said in a small voice. She did sound tired. Rick’s arms slid around her and he pulled her close without even thinking, like a reflex.

“I didn’t go far.”

“I know. Still missed you.” Evy made a small noise against him, like a contented cat. “Oh, I think this is my favourite part of the day.”

Rick grinned in her hair.

“Really? You’re out there doing what you’ve been dreaming of since you were a kid, and your favourite part of the day is leaving it behind?”

“Of course not, silly. I mean being here, with you.”

“Yeah, I figured that.” He kissed her temple, softly. “Same here, by the way.”

There went that little noise again. Rick caught himself hoping she’d never realise just how adorable she was. If it ever occurred to her to weaponise that kind of cuteness he was totally done for.

Well. Not that he wasn’t already.

His hands travelled up her arms and around her shoulders, feeling the slim muscles, all tensed and wound up like coils. She’d probably been spending her whole day with her arms up, looking up at things higher than herself and trying to bring them to life without damaging them.

Before he knew it, his fingers were searching for knots to loosen underneath the skin.

“You know,” said Evy quietly, a crooked grin in her voice, “if security doesn’t work out for you, you have the makings of a fine masseur.”

“No way I’m making a living groping sweaty strangers. Did you find out whose tomb it is you’re working on?”

“Not yet, but I’m more and more convinced it’s either a priestess’ or a singer’s. Or both! If I could at least find her sarcophagus… Ooh, right there, _yes_.”

Rick concentrated on a spot that did feel very tense; when he was done he felt Evy melt and let out a long sigh.

“What d’you mean, ‘both’?” he asked, mostly to check she wasn’t falling asleep on him. The bright glance she threw him over her shoulder attested to the contrary.

“I think the lady buried here was a Heset, a ritualistic singer. Music was very important in certain cults, like Amun’s or Isis’.”

“So no curses.”

“No curses at all.”

That was a relief. To be fair, they’d only encountered the one, but Imhotep had been cursed enough for a lifetime, or several.

Maybe once he would have found it weird, living in a world where that was a reasonable question. Now, having seen what he’d seen, Rick didn’t even think before asking it.

When he judged Evy’s back and shoulders relaxed enough, he moved his hands to her sides and pulled her toward him again. The next second, she let out a little laugh and pivoted to wrap him in her arms.

“I _am_ glad you chose me over groping sweaty strangers, you know,” she said, drawing a laugh out of him.

“Hell, it beats getting hanged.”

There was a world of difference, Rick had found, between pre-Evelyn Rick O’Connell and married Rick O’Connell. The former tended to put his foot in his mouth and didn’t give a damn about it; the latter played with the kind of dumb stuff the former could blurt out but knew exactly the limits of what constituted a joke and what didn’t. And Evy, to his relief, never failed to catch the twinkle in his eye in those occasions.

Like now, for example. He felt her chuckle against his chest.

“Still,” she said around a yawn, “sometimes I do wonder if you’re not getting bored out there.”

“Are you kidding? As long as you’re nearby and nobody’s shooting at me, I consider myself lucky.”

“But doesn’t it get dull, sometimes?”

“Safe isn’t boring, Evy. Safe is… it’s good. And honestly? Not really something I’m used to.”

Besides, being with Evy on an archaeological site was its very own version of ‘safe’. There were enough scorpions, snakes, spiders, and the occasional booby trap to keep things interesting.

“Oh. Well, that’s good.”

It was Rick’s turn to chuckle. Even half-asleep, Evy sounded nothing less than one hundred per cent confident.

He lowered her down gently on their makeshift bed and pulled the covers over them both, smiling when she burrowed closer to him in a way that felt completely instinctive.

“Because,” he heard her murmur in a warm puff of air against the hollow of his throat, “because I… mhm. I hope you never get bored of me.”

Her features were almost completely slack now, her chest rising and falling in the slow, steady rhythm that said sleep was just minutes away. Rick ran a hand on his wife’s hip, along her side, down her arm, and wondered how on earth anyone might find her – her bright eyes, her brighter mind, her sharp sense of humour, the warm curves under his palms – boring.

“Never,” he whispered with absolute certainty, hoping she wasn’t too far gone that she didn’t hear him.

The small throaty sound he heard right before she relaxed completely said she had. Rick let himself drift into sleep beside his wife, feeling peaceful, warm, and content.

The fact that he woke up in the middle of the night to a spider crawling up his arm notwithstanding, being married to Evy really _was_ a pretty good deal.

**Author's Note:**

> These two make me so soft. I think they may very well be the first characters I wrote as an actual couple almost 17 years ago, apart from a James/Lily snippet a couple of months before that.
> 
> Ritualistic singers in Ancient Egypt were a thing! I based the lady whose tomb Evy is uncovering on [Sha-Amun-en-su](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha-Amun-en-su). Her sarcophagus was discovered intact in the 19th century (a rarity) and offered to the Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro II, who loved all things Ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, both Sha-Amun-en-su's sarcophagus and mummy were destroyed in the tragic September 2018 fire of the Rio de Janeiro National Museum, along with many priceless artefacts.
> 
> I’m on Tumblr as belphegor1982 if you want to yell about _The Mummy_ and _The Mummy Returns_ (my tag is #the mummy films)!


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